Tariq al-Hijratayn wa Bab al-Saadatayn
- Author died
- 751 AH
- Editions
- Ta Ataat al-Ilm · Ta al-Dar al-Salafiya
Tariq al-Hijratayn wa Bab al-Saadatayn (The Path of the Two Migrations and the Door to the Two Happinesses) is a treatise on Islamic spirituality, ethics, and theology written by the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (691–751 AH / 1292–1350 CE) . The work delineates the principles of traversing the spiritual path (suluk) to God based strictly on the Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah .
Title and Composition
The book is titled Tariq al-Hijratayn wa Bab al-Saadatayn in the author's preface . In other writings and biographical sources, it is also cited under alternate titles, including Sifr al-Hijratayn wa Tariq al-Sa'adatayn, Sifr al-Hijratayn fi Tariq al-Sa'adatayn, and Sifr al-Hijratayn wa Bab al-Sa'adatayn, as recorded by al-Safadi and Ibn Taghribirdi .
Although the manuscripts do not record an explicit completion date, scholarly evidence places its composition after Ibn al-Qayyim's release from the Damascus citadel in 728 AH following the death of his master Ibn Taymiyyah . During that imprisonment, he devoted himself to Quranic reflection and spiritual states, which heavily informed his subsequent writings on suluk . Furthermore, Ibn al-Qayyim refers back to Tariq al-Hijratayn four times in his later work Madarij al-Salikin, establishing that it predates the latter .
Core Theme and Purpose
The central concept of the treatise revolves around the two obligatory migrations that every believer must undertake continuously :
- Migration to God: Seeking Him exclusively through sincere devotion (ikhlas), love (mahabbah), servitude ('ubudiyyah), repentance (inabah), trust (tawakkul), fear, and hope .
- Migration to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: Conforming strictly to his revealed law and guidance in all inward and outward states and actions .
Ibn al-Qayyim argues that fulfilling these two spiritual migrations opens the doorway to the "two happinesses": happiness in this world through adherence to prophetic guidance, and eternal happiness in the Hereafter through entering Paradise .
Structure and Content
Unlike most of Ibn al-Qayyim's works, which are strictly partitioned into numbered chapters listed in their prefaces, Tariq al-Hijratayn is organized more fluidly into thematic chapters and principles (qawa'id) . In the introduction, the author highlights its beginning with spiritual poverty and servitude (al-faqr wa-l-'ubudiyyah) and its conclusion with the ranks of accountable beings in the afterlife .
The primary subjects covered across the work include:
- A detailed discourse on spiritual poverty versus wealth .
- Core spiritual principles concerning repentance and its stages, trials and afflictions (al-ibtila'), direct paths to steadfastness (istiqamah) in speech and actions, and classifications of spiritual travelers toward the Hereafter .
- An extensive theological examination of divine decree and predestination (al-qada' wa-l-qadar), spanning over two hundred pages .
- A critical analysis of the subtle errors and shortcomings in mystical stations ('ilal maqamat al-suluk) . In this section, Ibn al-Qayyim undertakes a systematic, chapter-by-chapter critique of Mahasin al-Majalis by the Andalusian Sufi Ibn al-'Arif, providing point-by-point evaluations on topics such as will (iradah), reliance (tawakkul), and fear (khawf) .
- A concluding classification detailing the ranks and classes of morally accountable beings (tabaqat al-mukallafin) among humans and jinn in the Hereafter .
Printings, Abridgments, and Translations
The book was first printed in Cairo at al-Matba'ah al-Maymaniyyah in Sha'ban 1320 AH (1902 CE) on the margins of Ibn al-Qayyim's Ighathat al-Lahfan, edited by Muhammad al-Zuhri al-Ghamrawi . Later editions include one produced by Idarat al-Tiba'ah al-Muniriyyah (1357–1358 AH) and another by al-Maktabah al-Salafiyyah in 1375 AH (1955 CE), prepared under the supervision of Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib and Yusuf ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Nafi' . A critical edition was later prepared by Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi with hadith verification by Zayid ibn Ahmad al-Nashiri as part of the Athar al-Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah series overseen by Bakr Abu Zayd .
The text has been subject to various abridgments and excerpts:
- Fu'ad Shakir published an abridgment titled Inni Muhajir ila Rabbi: Mukhtasar Tariq al-Hijratayn (Cairo, 1407 AH) .
- The closing section on the afterlife was abridged by Abd Allah ibn Jar Allah al-Jar Allah as Mukhtasar Tabaqat al-Mukallafin (Mecca, 1404 AH) .
- The section on human perspectives regarding sin (Mashahid al-khalq fi al-ma'siyah) was extracted and published independently by Nadhir Hasan 'Atamah in 1405 AH .
An abridged Urdu translation was completed by Abd al-Alim al-Islahi and published by the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta in Riyadh in 1414 AH (1994 CE), alongside another Urdu translation issued by al-Dar al-Salafiyyah in Bombay .
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